On Friday, President Barack Obama spoke to German Chancellor Angela
Merkel. On Saturday he held talks with UK Prime Minister David Cameron,
French President François Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo
Renzi. He also held a conference call with the presidents of the
ex-Soviet Republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia—Andris Berzins,
Dalia Grybauskaite and Toomas Ilves, respectively.A White House
communication spoke of universal agreement “on the need for Russia to
pull its military forces back to their base” and for “the deployment of
international observers and human rights monitors to the Crimean
peninsula.”An even more threatening pose was struck by Secretary
of State John Kerry. According to a State Department spokesman, Kerry
warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that “continued military
escalation and provocation in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine, along with
steps to annex Crimea to Russia, would close any available space for
diplomacy…”

I really think John Kerry is embarrassing himself. But that's what you do in Barack's administration. He doesn't like to get his own hands dirty.

Monday, March 10, 2014. Chaos and violence continue, Nouri's assault on
Anbar continues, Nouri sexual desire for five-year-old girls gets lost
in a news cycle more interested in badly covering an interview he gave,
in the interview -- though the press ignores this -- Nouri slammed
Europe and the US government, a thug steps forward to justify Nouri's
bombing hospitals, we use the opportunity to leak info from the Bully
Boy Bush era about the 'caring' brother who 'mourned' the death of his
younger brother, and much, much more.

Reporters Without Borders is saddened to learn that two
employees of state-owned Al-Iraqiya TV, Muthanna Abdel Hussein and
Khaled Abdel Thamer, were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a police checkpoint at Hala, 70 km south of Baghdad, yesterday morning.

“We offer our condolences to the friends and families of
these two media workers and we condemn this attack with the utmost
energy,” Reporters Without Borders said.

In Nouri al-Maliki's Iraq, pretty much everyone has a target drawn on
their backs. It's not just reporters, it's all groupings. For example,
Nouri's now targeting female children like the pedophile that he is.

Saturday, Suadad al-Salhy (Reuters) reported,
"About two dozen Iraqi women demonstrated today in Baghdad against a
draft law approved by the Iraqi cabinet that would permit the marriage
of nine-year-old girls and automatically give child custody to fathers."
The offensive, disgusting and illegal bill was proposed by Nouri's
Minister of Justice Hassan al-Shimaria. Nouri and his Cabinet signed
off on it February 25th. There's a photo of some of the protesters here.

Iraq’s current laws grant women extensive rights regarding marriage,
inheritance, and child custody. Together, the current statutes have been
hailed as some of the most progressive in the Middle East.

The proposed law would change all of this. Among other things, the
bill claims girls reach puberty at age nine and can be married off
accordingly. It grants fathers complete custody of children at age two,
and legally allows men to demand sex from their wives at any time.

The current laws include and are based on the personal status law 188
which went into effect in 1959. The US government didn't give a damn
about Iraqi women and the women had to the streets to protest in 2005 to
ensure their rights were not written away as planned. Of the personal
status law, People's World notes:

It established at least partial equality between women and men in a
number of areas, restricted polygamy, created a judicial procedure for
divorce and required marriage to be performed only in state-run courts.
The law, which was later amended several times, also set an 18-year
minimum age for marriage. A later amendment allowed marriage for persons
over the age of 15 but under that of 18 in very strict cases and only
by authorization of a state judge.

Ban Ki-moon is the United Nations Secretary-General. His Special Envoy
in Iraq is Nickolay Mlandenov. Mladenov Tweeted the following Saturday:

Nine-year-olds getting married, that's what sicko Nouri wants, he wants
to nail some nine-year-old girl because he's a disgusting piece of
filth who's not fit for public office. As sick as he is, let's take a
look at the ultimate in sick, the US administration. Here's Secretary
of State John Kerry stringing words together to make some of verbal
necklace that holds up neither as jewelry nor as honesty:

International Women’s Day is a moment to pause and reflect on the
contributions of women to the world and to reaffirm our commitment to
continued progress on gender equality. It’s also a powerful reminder
that women are advancing peace and prosperity around the world in really
remarkable ways.I see it every day as Secretary of State.I see it in Ukraine, where women are working on the frontlines as
volunteers for the Maidan Medical Service. They are raising their voices
for freedom and dignity, and we must all step up and answer their call.I see it in Afghanistan, where women are starting companies, serving
as members of parliament, teaching in schools, and working as doctors
and nurses. They are the foundation on which Afghanistan’s future is
being built.I see it in Syria, where women are getting restrictions on
humanitarian access lifted by offering food to regime soldiers at the
checkpoints.I see it in Mali, where women are risking their lives as advocates for women’s and children’s rights.

Do you see it in Iraq, John?

John Kerry: Everywhere I travel, in every meeting, I can see firsthand the
promise of a world where women are empowered as equal partners in peace
and prosperity. But here’s what’s most important: all of the fights and
all of the progress we’ve seen in recent years haven’t come easily or
without struggle. And we still have work to do.

Oh, that's right, you don't travel to Iraq. The US State Dept (and
USAID) has a billion US tax dollars to spend each year on Iraq (it is a
billion, there was a move, at the end of 2013 to call it $800 million
but that was using 'creative math' in an attempt to lie to the American
people yet again).

A billion US tax dollars a year? And the State Dept -- which Kerry heads -- is also supposed to be over the US mission in Iraq.

Who's running the show?

Nouri's the US-installed puppet, he barks and strains at his leash, now
he starting to foam at the mouth so who's going to make the call to
animal control?

John Kerry continued his speech about International Women's Day by insisting:Our work is not done when one out of every three women is subjected to some form of violence in her lifetime.We cannot rest knowing that girls younger than 15 are forced to marry
and that they are five times more likely to die in childbirth than
women in their twenties.

No, your work -- that your paid to perform by the US taxpayer -- is not done. It is so far from done. And you know what else?

Five is younger than fifteen.

So you're expressed horror at child-brides at the age of 15 looks hollow
and fake when you can't say one damn word about Nouri's attempt to
force five-year-old girls into marriage.

You never heard about the efforts to convert two countries -- Iraq and Syria -- into one?

That's because no one had. The only ones talking about this 'plan' have been the voices in Nouri's head that only he hears. Mark Perelman: Aren't you concerned about a new possible -- the possibility of a new civil war in Iraq?Nouri al-Maliki: No. Because the situation is clear now between the
al Qaeda organizations and the Iraqi population which is opposed to al
Qaeda.

Nouri has been enabled by the US government to lie to the world. Since
2011, he has called peaceful protesters "terrorists." And the White
House, which demanded loser Nouri get a second term (one the voers said
"no" to), disgraces itself by providing him with cover. This fig leaf
will be ripped off by history in less than 20 years -- Barack needs to
worry about his legacy -- and Arabs around the world will call out the
genocide Barack is enabling. Mark Perelman: So you deny representing an anti-Sunni government, a
pro-Shi'ite authority? Those who say that are basically lying?Nouri al-Maliki: Absolutely. Absolutely. They know it perfectly.
When I opposed myself to the Shi'ite militias that were murdering
Sunnis, they said, "Luckily, the government opposed the militias."

Perelman's not a good interviewer. There's no push back on that claim. Is he stupid? Or is he just worthless?

Nouri's referring to 2008 when he attacked -- at the urging of the US
government and with the help of the US military -- Basra and then Sadr
City in Baghdad.

In supporting Asaib al-Haq, Mr. Maliki has apparently made the risky
calculation that by backing some Shiite militias, even in secret, he can
maintain control over the country’s restive Shiite population and,
ultimately, retain power after the next national elections, which are
scheduled for next year. Militiamen and residents of Shiite areas say
members of Asaib al-Haq are given government badges and weapons and
allowed freedom of movement by the security forces.

He' paying them, he's arming them and they have targeted Sunnis. For
Perelman not to call Nouri on this? He's worthless as a journalist,
completely worthless.

Not noted in the coverage, Nouri didn't just claim Saudia Arabia and
Qatar were "inciting and encouraging the terrorism movements. I accues
them of supporting them p olitically and in the media."

He also claimed Europe was providing both weapons and "European
fighters." He stated weapons had poured into Iraq: "French weapons,
American weapons, Russian weapons" -- and he wasn't speaking of all the
weapons his good friend Barack Obama's supplying him with, he was saying
weapons being supplied to 'terrorists.' Among Europe, he also singled
out Belgium. "First and foremost," he accused Qatar and Saudi Arabia
but he blamed everyone including "some European countries"

But apparently the US government loves to be spat on -- probably
Barack's attempting to figure out how to send even more weapons to
Nouri.

While the US government is too scared to call out Nouri, not everyone's a coward.

Al Arabiya News notes a Saudi Arabia government source:The source said Maliki’s statements were meant to cover his domestic
failures and his policies, which “placed Iraq in the service of regional
actors.”In an interview on France 24 TV Saturday evening,
Maliki accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of openly funding the Sunni Muslim
insurgents his troops are battling in western Anbar province, in his
strongest such statement since fighting started there early this year.[. . .]Maliki's remarks play to Iraqi
fears of the Sunni Arab states as he tries to burnish his standing as a
defender of the mainly Shi'ite country before elections at the end of
April.

Arab News adds
this on the unofficial response from the government of Saudi Arabia,
"The Al-Maliki government was acting against certain sections of its
people with the 'blessing' of some members of its own government, the
statement said. The statement said it was 'obvious that the objective of
these statements is to falsify the facts and blame others for the
failings of the Iraqi prime minister'."

The issue was raised in today's State Dept press briefing by State Dept spokesperson Jen Psaki (though no one apparently watched the interview, they just read the text coverage).QUESTION: I wanted to ask very quickly on Iraq.MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm.QUESTION: Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki issued a statement
bluntly accusing two of your allies, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, of being
behind the sectarian war that is taking place in Iraq. I wonder if you
have any comments on that.MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm. Well – sorry, Said. Can you repeat your question
one more time just to make sure I’m addressing the right one here?QUESTION: My question was that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
accused overtly both the countries of the Governments of Saudi Arabia
and Qatar of being behind --MS. PSAKI: Yes. Yes, yes, yes.QUESTION: -- the escalation of the sectarian violence that is taking place.MS. PSAKI: Well, Iraq has made significant progress in
improving relations with some countries in the region, such as Kuwait
and Jordan, but progress with others has been limited. We continue to
encourage improved ties between Iraq and its Arab neighbors,
particularly the GCC. The situation in Syria has certainly fueled
tensions in the region and foreign fighters are making their way into
Iraq from Syria. We are particularly concerned, of course, about this.
We share Iraq’s concern over the levels of violence, and we are working
with the Iraqis to implement a holistic strategy. I would, of course,
refer you otherwise to the Government of Iraq.QUESTION: Do you agree – or, I mean – does your intelligence –
I don’t know if – what they see, or the Embassy in Baghdad, that is a
very large Embassy. Do they also see or do they detect activities by the
Saudis and the Qataris that are actually exacerbating the sectarian
violence there?

MS. PSAKI: I’m not going to speak to that, Said. We, of
course, broadly speaking – broadly speaking – we have been concerned, of
course, about the influx of foreign fighters in Iraq in recent months.
That has certainly exacerbated the security situation. That said, of
course we continue to advise and assist Iraq in developing strategies
with understanding – with the understanding of their own security
operations and capabilities, and we’re in close touch with them about
that.

As violence in Fallujah escalates to near-unprecedented levels, the
entire narrative of the fighting seems to evade a number of key points.
Namely, this fighting was not precipitated by the capture of Sunni
strongholds by al-Qaeda or the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
(ISIS).The precursor to the fighting between Iraqi government forces and
Sunni tribesmen of Anbar was a result of a ruthless policy of
repression, aimed at nationwide protest camps opposing government
measures on public services, counterterrorism, illegal house raids and a
perpetuation of sectarian violence, as well as a number of other
policies that continue to marginalize Sunni communities.The Ramadi protest camps in al-Anbar have
been at the center of demonstrations for the past year. It was on
December 30 — a week after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had
threatened to "burn down" the camps — that special forces (SWAT) and the
army descended upon the Ezz and Karama Square to crush protests, which
had gained momentum after the arrest of Sunni MP Ahmed al-Alwani and the
murder of his brother and five of his security guards.Two witnesses reported to Human Rights Watch that
SWAT and the army had arrived in a procession of military Humvees,
pick-up trucks, and armored vehicles to clear the squares. All this just
seven hours after Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi had negotiated
the release of Alwani on the condition that the camps were to be cleared
within 48 hours.

This is not the first attempt by government forces to clear protest
camps. In April 2013, SWAT and the army opened fire on more than a
thousand protestors in Hawija,
south of Kirkut, killing 50 people and leaving 110 injured. The event
passed without as much as a whimper in the press, let alone widespread
condemnation.

When not targeting the people with collective punishment -- a defined
War Crime, Nouri likes to target hospitals -- specific favorites include
Falluja General Hospital and Falluja Educational Hospital. Targeting
hospitals is also a War Crime.

World Bulletin notes
a criminal has come forward to defend Nouri: Sahwa leader (part of the
Iraqi mafia long before the Sahwa were created) Ahmed Abu Risha has
declared the hospital needed to be targeted . . . for 'terrorists.'
When he says things like that, you start to understand why US
intelligence sincerely believed that Ahmed Abu Risha ordered his own
brother, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, killed to take over as leader.

Oops! Did I let that slip out? See, the Bully Boy Bush administration
was willing to bury the evidence they said they had on Ahmed killing his
own brother in exchange for Ahmed joining the 'Awakenings' and dancing
for them like a puppet on a string. As a result, that secret was never,
ever supposed to come out. My bad.

World Bulletin quotes
Falluja General Hospital spokesperson Wissam al-Essawi responding to
Ahmed's charges, "Only the staff of the hospital and Fallujah residents
who come to
visit relatives injured in army shelling of their homes are present in
the hospital."

In the interview with Nouri, France24 raised the issue of cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr. All Iraq News notes
Nouri's termed him "immature." Actually, it was more interesting than
that. First, Nouri insisted he wasn't going to talk about Moqtada, then
gossip gal Nouri wanted to dish and that's when he insulted Moqtada.

The reaction to the insults were visible today. All Iraq News reports
Moqtada's supporters were out in full force, protesting in Ammara
against Nouri (who called Moqtada "immature" in his France24 interview).
All Iraq News notes that they also flooded the streets of Nassiriya protesting against Nouri.

While they called for Nouri's resignation today, Al Mada reports
Ayad Allawi called for Nouri's resignation yesterday. Allawi wants a
caretaker government set up now, ahead of the elections. This was
proposed last go round.

Through Sunday, Iraq Body Count counts 346 violent deaths -- 346 in the first nine days of the month.

In other news, Nouri continues to try to bully the Kurdistan Regional
Government into abiding by his oil wishes -- wishes because Pedophile
Nouri never got the oil and gas bill passed despite prominsing to do so
in 2007. He continues his was on the KRG despite the potential harm
this can do to Iraq.

Friday, Aswat al-Iraq noted
that, "MP Alia Nsaif called the federal government to prevent the
Kurdish region from cutting off waters from other Iraqi provinces,
pointing that water policies are the domain of the central government
only.
In a statement today, copy received by Aswat ala-Iraq, she stated that
the Kurdish region cut off the water from Kirkuk agricultural lands for
two days, and re-opened the water vents by 50%, which stirred public
anxiety and anger."

How pressing and real of a concern is this? Reuters explains of the water issue:

Varying degrees of drought are hitting almost two thirds of the
limited arable land across Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian
territories and Iraq."Going back to the last 100 years, I don't think you can get a
five-year span that's been as dry," said Mohammad Raafi Hossain, a
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) environmental economist.

Wow. So the KRG has access (control of) a great deal of water. Water
is in short supply in Iraq. And Nouri has decided to pick another fight
with the KRG over oil?

Well of course. It's not like there's a shortage of water in the Green
Zone and, if there is, those living high on the hog will just have it
flown in from out of Iraq for their use -- for only their use in the
Green Zone.